Equestria Stories
by cali is not dead
Summary: A combined storyline of many stories I have written.
1. Pine

A knock echoed throughout an empty cottage on the top of a mountain, a place where nopony would call home no matter who or what they were. Not even the strongest bear would be able to weather the cruel and vicious conditions this mountain had to offer, except one. As the knock spread out throughout the house a large, bright green pony stirred, he hopped out his small bed, a dim fire lit next to it, and slowly made his way to the entrance, which he had to admit, was getting a bit too big for him.

"Who is it?" He said gruffly, his voice barely more than a rumble as the knocker almost seemed to disappear, not answering for a little bit, though the large pony was patient, he did have a long time until he had to do actual stuff. He shrugged and turned away before he finally got an answer.

"It's me, don't tell me you forgot about your own brother in the span of a week since his last visit," the voice replied with a small hint of laughter, "I guess the great and powerful Pine, who can't use his horn and yet stands as tall as his mother, has a serious case of memory loss!" the voice mused, making Pine do a complete 180 and open the door.

"You actually remembered," he said softly, his large body even bigger than the size the door was made for, "Did Candy.."

"Yes she did, though, she couldn't bring it herself, y'know, she's gettin old, can't perform as much miracles as she wishes she could, even that vacation back in Canterlot couldn't make her young again. She couldn't stand the cold winter there, she cares a lot about you, so does Torch, especially since they found out about your.. Thing. Why don't you go home and visit them Pine, they miss you," he went on, walking into the house with a pouch of bits being thrown on the floor by Pine, who was laughing silently in the middle of the cottage.

"Guess my visit _is_ way overdue, take the bits. Use them to buy some more things for Candy and Torch, I want you to label them, "TO the best parents ever, FROM: The stallion in the mountains.' sounds quite nice doesn't it?" Pine said regally, acting all fancy as he turned to his brother, a smile on his bearded face. "Cmon Blue, tell me you can do at least that!"

"Sure I can, if you want to look like a creepier version of Sweet Pine, cmon, 'Stallion in the mountains?' Sounds like a cheap way of saying, 'Your son who says he loves you but hasn't visited since the beginning of the year..' Cmon Pine, it's been seven months, you need to visit them, and give the present yourself," Blue Torch said, leaning against the door. "And you need to renovate, this place is emptier than Dusks flute case."

"Whatever, at least I can actually do something useful, what do you do, teach rowdy foals and fillies?" Pine teased, grabbing Blue Torch and giving him a noogie, though he didn't hurt him too well. "I'll go down there in a little, just wait up for me at home, I need to find a way to actually get out of the doorway without it breaking," Pine said, staring outside with a shiver.

"Just make sure you don't forget to stay for a week, you need to catch up with us, I think Burning Light'll be there.," Blue Torch said, walking out the door and closing it with a soft creak before it fully closed, leaving Pine there in the empty cabin, the fire by his bed starting to burn out.

"Maybe I do need to redecorate," he softly said, turning around to open a small hatch in the corner of the room, big enough to allow him to fit in without trouble, though he did get his mane stuck sometimes, though it didn't really bother him, it was something he had gotten used too. His mane was to marvel at, since it almost always looked good even though it looked extremely messy.

With a loud THUD he landed on the ground, staggering to his feet he was quickly met with a pair of eyes staring at him, a large toothy grin right below. "You came back dear brother, I was wondering when you'd come back, when you would free me," the face snarled slowly, making Pine kick it square in the nose, a light overhead lightly shining up the place. The light patter of blood filled the still quiet of the room as Pine got ready to speak.

"You shut up, it was bad enough when I had to tell Candy and Torch that you're dead, harder enough to keep you hiding down here, shut away. I should've killed you when I had the chance," Pine retorted, kicking the figure again. "You behave yourself, I'm heading out," he said, turning around to leave, "And if I find out that you escape, or mess anything up, I will personally dig a grave for you and bury you inside,

"Got it?"

"Yes sir," Sweet Pine replied, groaning as the lights turned off, leaving him in the pitch black darkness, to be alone. Once more.

Pine burst out his door, obviously not caring that he had weeks worth of repairs to do, as he made his way down the mountain, the crunching of the snow creating a soft noise throughout the atmosphere, the clouds that rested tiredly on the mountain getting further away as Pine climbed down the mountain, In terms of navigation, he was the one you could trust to not lead you to a cold, painful, icy, or high death. He knew the mountain inside and out, from the caves holding fresh spring water, to the sharp rocks that plague the mountain like sickness, he knew exactly where to go.

With his navigation, he also knew where his old home was, the house that the rest of his family lived in, away from the other ponies, sheltered by the dangerous mountain conditions that the ponies beneath them dared not to go through, for fear of their lives. His family stayed, used to the harsh conditions from the top, while enjoying the serenity and grace of their location near the base of the mountain, only scaling it to see Pine, and to see the grave that he had planted for his brother, Sweet Pine.

As he neared the base of the mountain, the air seemed to go still, the wind had died down to barely more than a soft whistle, snow seemed to stop where they lay, and animals ceased to even breathe, and the low crunching of snow seemed to get ever so louder. With a flick of his head, Pine could barely see an outline of a creature, shrouded with a blanket of snow, with eyes that went to a slit as it rushed towards him, fully charging at him with the intent of doing harm, with a spear?

Pine quickly put up his hoof and allowed the spear to jab him through the arm, before twisting it in a way that would both break the spear, and allow him to use it himself, though after he did this, he threw it away, far off into the distance. "What…" he said to himself, watching the spear dissolve into a goopy black mess. He walked towards it, poking it only to realize that if was almost molten, feeling the heat mere moments before touching it. The blackish goop melted the snow, then the ice that lay beneath it, then, the rocks, it managed to stay hot enough to make a large dent in the rocks.

This made Pine worry, whatever this _thing_ was, it certainly wasn't anyone he knew, friendly or not. If it was someone that he had interacted that hated him, they wouldn't have something like that. He turned around to look at his attacker, who looked like he had been covered with the goop himself. With a snap one of his hooves launched forward, leaving Pine stumbling as he barely dodged out of the way, tripping on his hooves and falling to the ground, the ice cracking beneath his massive weight.

The tentacle quickly changed direction, wrapping itself around Pines leg, causing him to scream loudly as steam rose from his leg, which soon smelt of flesh as it wrapped around tighter, not only cutting off all feeling in his leg, but burning it off at the same time, the tentacle going around tighter as more of his leg got burnt. At the end of it all, the tentacle smacked the now almost cut off leg, taking it clean off the rest of the body, and retreated back to its owner, who made his way down the mountain, leaving Pine there, a bloody, knocked out mess.

When he eventually came too, he found himself still on the mountain, inside his cabin. He moved three of his hooves. _Everything's there,_ then he moved the final leg, the stub of it anyways. Thanks to the tentacles… hot properties, it had already been cauterized, which meant that he hadn't lost much blood. He wiggled it around, observing his environment while doing so, concluding that he had been brought back to his home somehow, somehow…

He turned to his fire pit and spat up a fireball, one of the perks to being part dragon he liked to think, but to others it was something to be feared for. It wasn't his fault his mother was half dragon, he just got the fire breathing part of that little dragon genetic pool. His sister, who he wanted to see before he went to his parents house, got the wings, and the moodiness of some, though it wasn't certain it was genetics. He had always teased her about it, though both had agreed to stay away from teasing or making fun of their dragon-like parts.

One question still remained though, how was he able to be brought back to his cabin, when he was barely halfway down the mountain where ponies would not care to look? He heard a creeking come from the corner of the cabin, which had strangely been fixed, the wood looking fresh and the door was even adjusted to fit him, and he wasn't planning to fix the hole he had made when he sprinted through the door.

He saw the shape of somepony there and slowly got off the bed he was laying on, shifting his weight to account for the fact that he was missing a leg. Despite him balancing himself more he kept on stumbling over and over, making the walk to the figure a lot less dramatic than he had hoped for. As he finally neared the corner, the figure stepped out, the red eyes immediately telling Pine who it was, much to his anger.

"Well, looks like I'm the one who did the saving this time brother." Sweet Pine huffed, sitting down in front of Pine, his grey coat very slightly visible with the dim light offered by the flame next to Pines bed, his expression not one of evil intent, but with actual concern. Of course Pine didn't care, he did deserve to be locked up in that small cellar-like area, so he swung at Sweet Pine, missing by a lot when he moved off to the side.

"What are you doing out of the cellar, how did you even get out? The shackles were tightened every day so there's no possible way that.." Pine started, interrupted by a hoof against his mouth.

"Brother, hush, I'll inform you later, but right now, you need to recover. Celestia forbid you die because of an infected wound, I haven't even gotten around to treating it, so crawl your way back onto your bed, and let me treat that missing leg before it takes care of you." Sweet Pine said, much to Pines disagreement, as Sweet Pine picked him up by a hoof, and dragged him back over to the bed.

"Once I'm able to walk properly again, the first thing I will do is go after you, beat you senseless, then make sure that you're stuck in a grave. That is a promise Sweet Pine." Pine growled, somewhat surprised that the much much smaller Sweet Pine could pick him up with ease, though he attributed it to whatever Sweet Pine did in the past. "I haven't forgiven you, and I won't no matter what," Pine said, Sweet Pine rolling his eyes.

"Oh I know you wouldn't, neither would anypony who survived what I did, though, there wouldn't be too much of them, despite my eyes being bad, I can see with my visions, but yeah, I don't think I'll be forgiven for what I did anytime soon, but not for now dear Brother, you need rest." Sweet Pine said softly, "I'll see what I can do for your leg, just sleep. Think of whatever it is you like."

Pine sighed, but couldn't help but follow his orders, closing his eyes, exhaustion overwhelming him, making is transition into the dream realm easier than it always would. Sweet Pine stared at his brother and turned to the door, opening it softly, soft snowflakes falling on his grey pelt as he walked out, camouflaged well with the snow, and closed the door behind him.


	2. Dusk

The wind was still and the animals quieted as a purple pegasus walked into the clearing, a pond in the middle as she opened up her violin case she brought with her. She took out the instrument, built with a mix of spruce and ebony wood, the strings made of synthetic material that she couldn't remember or describe. The bow she had pulled out was worn, but still in good use, this was the bow she had used during her very first years of playing, and she stuck with it, no matter how beat up it got.

With a heavy sigh, and a deep breath, she put the violin into the position she would always hold it, her wings keeping the violin steady. She held he bow with a hoof and pulled it across the strings, a test run, if you will. She slowly pulled it back and forth, the sound resonating throughout the forest clearing, the trees listening to the violinist that was playing right in front of them.

Soon she put a second hoof up to the frets, her wings helping her get some of those extra notes, and she played. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady as she played a tune that she had been practicing in front of her family for a while, and she was so close to perfecting it. Her pace got quicker, the song picking up speed, and so did the notes.

With an almost perfect precision she played the song with no stops in between, not even stopping to rest for a single second, face stone cold with determination to finish the song she had been longing to finish for so long. With a stamp of a hoof, she finished. She sighed heavily and lay on her back, the forest going back to its original posture, the birds chirping a song, bugs flying around, creating a buzz that surrounded the clearing. Animals who didn't appear in the clearing like normal reappeared, stopping to take a drink in peace.

Soon she heard the crunching of leaves behind her, and slowly got up, brushing her bangs, though there wasn't much to brush. Her mane covered her eyes, but nothing more. She liked it like that, and so did her family, though sometimes she wished she could get some alone time. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times, as a bright pink mare emerged from the trees, spitting out a leaf as she walked into the clearing. "What are you doing here?" The pegasus asked, putting her violin away in it's case. "I thought you and Pine were going out to hunt, not head off into the forest."

The pink mare shrugged, "He was supposed to arrive today," she noted, "but he never arrived. Have you seen him around? It's strange for him to not arrive." This certainly caught the pegasus off guard, her brother was not one to miss out on family meetings, and he definitely wasn't the type to miss out on one of his hunts with Candy, even though he was sick.

"I haven't, you sure he's just running a little late? The mountains seemed more stormy this week." The pegasus said, turning her head to gaze at the very tip of those mountains which was covered in snow. She did have to admit it did look stormy, and Pine would be a little caught off guard, but it certainly wasn't looking like that when she exited her home, and there were no clouds in the sky, so that just made it look extra weird.

"Dusk, why don't you go check up on him? You two are closer than we are to you after all," Candy told her, pushing her hoof into the soft ground, "Besides, I have to head on out, have to talk to Nox, he's getting quite worrisome y'know?" Candy smiled, walking up to the lake and pushing a stone in, watching it sink below the surface.

"Have I ever told you the story of how me and Torch realized we should be together?" Candy asked, turning to Dusk, a small smile on her face.

"Of course, the story you told us when you were talking about heading off to the badlands with Pine. Torch was the one who told us all about it, even the part when you tried to topple her over by climbing onto her." Dusk replied, stretching her wings, slinging her violin case on her back. "Listen, Mom, I have to go, gotta look for Pine right?"

Candy nodded, getting up and grabbing her own gear, left next to a marked tree. "Yeah yeah, go and get your brother. Ask him if he got my package, and tell him that next time I'll be well enough to make the trip myself." She called after Dusk, who had already started to fly towards the mountains. "She'll be fine, right? I think we've cleared the mountains." She said to herself, walking away.

Dusk… well she wasn't that much of a good flyer. Though she had practiced everyday, she was nowhere about as good as Blue Torch, one of her brothers, who showed great potential in him as a little foal, but decided to end up as a teacher. She was considered the more 'musically talented' part of the family, though, Pine could also play an instrument quite well, but he wasn't that good at his guitar.

Dusk had started her practicing when she was given the violin itself by Pine, as a prize from a game he had played. She was young, but she had already shown a decent promise in the skill, and she proved that she wanted to continue practicing. She had a lot of time to practice as well, since she had never really attended school as often as her brother did. This was usually because most of the other students would call her names, or, probably even worse, make fun of her parents due to them both being mares.

This was when Pine shined in his leadership skills, which is what Torch called it. If anyone else would call it beating up other foals as an act of revenge. He was Dusks protector, and he was a damn good one at that. When he was around fillies and foals knew to avoid him, or risk getting pummeled to death by his hooves.

Despite all this, she did want to have her alone time, and she did. When she felt like being alone she would head off into the pond, usually to reflect on her experiences and other things. Dusk was somepony who you could get along with well, as long as you know about her needs and requests.

As Dusk flew, she could faintly see a blackened figure on the mountain, and a strange tentacle sticking out of it, not like anything that she had ever seen, including the amount of Wraiths and other monster-like things she had seen in Pine and Candys storage, this was a completely new entity. She also realized that the tentacle was heading after her, a bit too late, as it shot after her at lightning speed. She ducked, missing it entirely and flew down to the ground for cover.

The Wraiths were strange creatures, they took any form, whether it be animal, pony, dragon, even full out creepy and original monsters, some copied others, but they all had a clear distinction. They dripped black goo. This one was no exception, but it seemed to have a more.. Dangerous aura than any others she had encountered, this one leaked all sorts of negative emotions.

She shuddered, then realized that it was close to where Pine had lived, and it was walking _away_ from it. She shoved the terrible thought out of her mind, right now, she needed to focus on actually heading off to Pines home. She decided that it wouldn't be the best time to fly, so she continued on hoof, she was already near the base of the mountain, she could easily make her way upwards, she hoped.

As she made her way to her brothers home she got this sickly feeling of dread, the dread one gets when they watch someone get hurt and they can't do anything, the dread when you have to make a public speech and stumble at a word. _The_ dread. She couldn't help but think that it had visited Pines home and slaughtered him, leaving the mangled body of her brother behind for her to stumble upon. She managed to trudge on, her thoughts running rampant as she scaled the mountain.

Breath after breath, the air got colder, the snow fell harder, the winds were starting to pick up. Visibility was soon cut to barely more than one Cel ahead of her, (One Cel being the length of Princess Celestia's hoof,) and she could see the outline of Pines house in the snowy air. It looked quite far, but she could push through it, then she saw it.

A leg.

A leg that looked suspiciously like Pines.

A leg that was still oozing blood, it was fresh.

She threw up, staining the area around the leg, the snow gaining a sickly green color as she did so, this was pushing her over the edge. First that Wraith, then the fact that it was walking away from his home, then this. She couldn't take it any longer. She stopped regurgitating her breakfast and snack and trudged her way to the cottage, more determined than ever to arrive there. She tried flying, but the thick snow pelting her from every direction wouldn't allow that, and the deep snow, (which mind you, is still piling up,) didn't allow her to run, so she was forced to walk slowly, for fear of seriously injuring herself.

When she finally reached it, she noted two things. One; The walls and the door were a different shade, the old walls were a dark oak color, these looked like birch or regular apple trees. Two; Pine needs to remember to lock the door, as when she entered the cottage, he wasn't exactly in the best position to be seen first thing when a door is opened.

They both locked eyes, one second, two seconds, three seconds, four. Dusk launched herself at Pine, embracing him in a large hug. She crushed him with how strong she made it, she poured all of her worry and fear and straight up _anger_ at her brother, sobbing into his shoulder as he tried to comfort her.

"Hey, DC, I'm fine, I'm alive, right?" He said calmly, putting a hoof on her mane and softly rubbing it, "I'm not planning on dying just yet." He chuckled, pulling a blanket over himself. Dusk noted the fire next to him was put out, something that he did when he was getting ready to sleep.

Dusk breathed in heavily, shaking as she exhaled, "Y-you're fine? Are you a ghost?" She asked him carefully, knowing the answer already, but just asking it in case he was just a hallucination she was having.

Pine gazed at her, then chuckled a little bit, "I haven't fallen out this bed just yet, and the fact that I'm not phasing through you right now probably means that I'm not a ghost, I'm alive and kicki-" He said, obviously realizing that he wasn't kicking, more like struggling to kick.

"Your leg.. Is it?" Dusk asked, Pine nodding solemnly, lifting up the blankets and revealing a now healed stub, "I knew it," she whispered, burying her head into his chest.

"Mmhmm, It's all sorts of messed up. Don't worry, I'll be up and running soon, I have that prosthetic Mom gave me just in case." he said, smiling at her. "I'm gonna live, I'll head down to town to ask someone to attach the leg, hopefully it works like she said it would. Maybe I'll have a haircut while I'm at it."

Dusk sighed, "Fine, just as I know you're safe, me and Candy was worried about you." She said softly, Pine sighing.

"Nothing to worry about, I'm not going anywhere away from you guys for the longest time." He reassured. The door opened suddenly, snow blowing into the cottage.

"Sorry I'm late, I tried finding the closest- Dusk?" A familiar voice squeaked. She turned around, the door shut, leaving the figure of Sweet Pine standing at the door.

"Why are you here?"


	3. Torch

A sizzling sound on the stove woke a creature from her sleep, stepping out of her empty bed, still smelling the scent of her mate—no—her marefriend still lingering. She shook her head, yawning as she stumbled out of her room, smelling the familiar scent of cooking meat in the air. She rubbed her eyes with a paw, trying to get her blurry eyesight to work. She felt her way around her home, using what very little vision she had to maneuver around as arrive at the kitchen.

Her eyes finally adjusted to the morning sun as she watched one of her children, Burning Light, cook. It was pretty rare to see him cook, even rarer to see him cooking meat. She walked over to the stove and tapped him on the shoulder with her tail, sending a shiver through his body as he turned around to look at his mother, sighing as he rubbed the side of his head with a hoof. "Mom! You didn't have to do that.." he grumbled, turning to face her. "You could have just said hi, or maybe perhaps ask what I was cooking?" he said, putting a pair of tongs away.

Torch let out a purr-like noise, hugging her son tightly, though he showed that he didn't want to be hugged he gave his mother a tight hug, they both stayed like this until a splash of hot oil hit Burning Lights hoof and he recoiled back quickly with a yelp, his hooves clamoring for the mechanism that turned the gas off. With a sigh, he got it to turn off, the meat (which looked like a steak if Torch was being honest) was evenly cooked, and it looked to be expertly made.

"You wouldn't be happen to be taking cooking lessons Burning Light? This stuff is leagues better than what you usually cook, if you cooked at all," she said happily, still giving her son a giant bear hug. She didn't seem like letting go anytime soon, and Burning Light knew it.

"W-well," he began, "I started learning how to cook after I kinda lost that bet with Pine, I wanted to learn how to make great food, not just to beat Pine and finally be better than him at something, besides writing." He took a breath, his tail flicking a tiny bit, "And I also wanted to give you a gift, it _is_ your birthday after all," he finished, looking at his mother with his eyes filled with something Torch couldn't recognize.

The thing she _did_ notice, was the fact that a tear was rolling down her eye, "W-wait.." she stuttered, wiping the tear, "You.. you remembered the date? We didn't have to give you any hints?" she finally managed to choke out, letting go of Burning Light.

"Uh, yeah. After all those years I guess it just clicked with me, I think Blue Torch had a gift, and even Dusk has a gift for you," he said, clopping his hooves together, "We all pitched in to get you things. I made you a special breakfast, Dusk finally finished that song she's been working on, and Blue Torch got you items we thought you'd be happy to receive," he ended his sentence with a smile, looking at Torch.

"Mom?" he asked, his voice snapping Torch out of her seemingly frozen state. She could now feel the tears running down her face at a constant rate, hearing the patter of them hitting the floor that they stood on. "Mom, are you.. Crying?" Burning Light asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Wh-what? N-no, I'm n-not cr-crying, _you're_ crying!" she said, making Burning Light sigh, an amused tone underlying the sigh. "I'm just.. Surprised that you guys remembered, Pine hasn't come yet, but I just know he has a gift for me. Thank you.." she sighed, looking up at Burning Light, who was staring at the food, grabbing tongs and picking them up, a dark blue aura surrounding it as he grabbed plates and put them around the table.

"I'll look around for Mum, I'll also look around for Candy, and see if Dusk is anywhere around. Blue Torch should be coming down from his visit with Pine, and Pine himself should also be coming down," he said quickly, placing one of the slabs of meat on Torchs plate and walking out the door. "I'll be here by sunset if all goes well, save some food for me," he said, closing the door softly behind him, leaving Torch by herself inside the home.

She recovered from her little cry session and made her way to the table, sitting down at her part of the table. She poked her food delicately. _Tough, he overcooked it…_ she noted, picking it up with a fork and biting into it softly. _Itś really tough.._ she sighed in her head. "Maybe he didn't get lessons, maybe he just tried to cook something from scratch, at least it tastes good," she said, leaving the rest of the steak (now that she looked at it more, it looked more like a loin. Or another slab of meat) and walked back to her room.

The room was looked to be quite tidy, all of Candys items were put off to one side, her hunting gear placed in a chest in the corner of the room, her table was filled with paperwork and various furs that she either bought from Torch while they were dating, or just picked up from animals that were hunted. A pair of sunglasses was also placed on the table, along with many book on anatomy, biology, and various materials and ingredients.

Torchs side on the other hoof was practically empty. Aside from a bookshelf filled with many books that even she didn't know were about, both her and Candy's closet was on that side, along with the.. Other equipment. Everytime she opened the closet she had to prevent her eyes from immediately looking at that equipment. Part of her wanted to put it on and wait for her beloved to ravage her like a beast, and the other, more powerful and rational side, objected this.

With a groan she flopped back onto her bed, cuddling a pillow that was placed on Candys side, breathing in her scent as she held the pillow around her tightly. She imagined that today would go absolutely amazing, it was going great already, and she couldn't imagine the gift candy had bought for her. She closed her eyes and began to sleep, her breathing slowing to a crawl as she drifted off into the dream realm.

When Torch opened her eyes she could feel something warm. She guessed it was the pillow, but when she looked down it was Candy, who was sleeping peacefully next to her, her mane completely covering her left side of her face. With a rumbling purr she brought Candy closer, giving the mare a soft, gentle kiss on the cheek. This resulted in the green eyes of Candy to open, staring at her marefriend with eyes filled with love.

"Have a good nap?" Candy asked, smiling softly as she turned to face Torch.

"Better than most of them, and my pillow better to cuddle with than ever," the hybrid said, sighing peacefully. She could feel the world around them dissipating, with them in the centre. It felt cliché, but honestly, she didn't care at all. She just wanted to be alone with Candy at this very moment.

"Hmm, I wonder why?" Candy teased, placing her own hooves on top of Torches and pressing against her.

"Well, I would have to attribute that to you, because it feels quite warm, and it's better to cuddle than some cold, lifeless pillow," Torch purred roughly, she wasn't used to making that sound. She could feel Candys tail drifting along hers, and with a sudden quickness, twined their tails together. It felt natural to her, and it felt like she was protected from anything while with Candy.

"All credit goes me me of course, who else besides me would have the best cuddling experience?" she whispered happily, pressing her face against Torchs chest, "That's right, no one else," she finished after a few seconds of silence, garnering a snort from Torch.

"Whatever you dork, you want to.. To…" Torch murmured, being interrupted by Candy planting a kiss on her neck, giving it a small nip.

"Torch, shut up," Candy said huskily, adjusting herself so that she was hovering above Torch, "Let it happen," she whispered, kissing Torch, having both of them be under the sheets as he moved downwards.

With a grunt, Torch got off the bed, her legs still quivering from her experience just over two hours ago (Candy _was_ known for her incredible stamina, and after every session, Torch couldn't feel anything for a while) and peeked outside. Candy was busy talking to Burning Light, and Blue Torch could be heard from outside, flying around the house, most likely practicing for his new lesson. It seemed nice, but Pine nor Dusk had arrived.

"Oh, you're up, we were just talking about you," Candy said, wearing her hunting gear. "We were considering moving on up to the mountains, not permanently, we just want to see Pine," she explained. Torch gazing at her hunting gear. It looked more dangerous, more.. _Lethal._

"Uh, what's with the new equipment?" she asked, tilting her head, it seemed as if she was going for a more, 'stabby stabby' equipment style rather than her usual, 'hush knockout' style.

"I'm hearing that there's been a dangerous Wraith in the mountains, and I've gotten orders from C to kill it if I see it. No use studying this thing while it's alive," she said darkly, "I know Pine can handle himself, but he hasn't moved all of his equipment, he could be put in a bad situation," she picked up one of her swords, tucked in safely behind her flank and swung it around, barely missing Burning Light.

"Watch out!" he exclaimed, using his magic to catch it in midair, "You'll kill us first before you take out that Wraith," he grumbled.

"So, wait, you're just going to waltz up into the mountain, _knowing_ that there's a chance that you could die, and who are you bringing with you?" Torch inquired, walking towards the two and sitting down between them.

"That's the plan, yes. I can't risk any of you guys dying, it'll be quicker, easier, and less risky if I go by myself," Candy said, putting the sword away. "And besides, someone needs to stay behind and watch over the place."

Torch sighed, placing a paw on Candy, "No, I'm not going to allow you to go alone, we can have Burning Light or Blue Torch stay here, but not me, I'm coming with you," she said confidently, staring Candy right into the eyes, "I know I'm not experienced at fighting Wraiths like you, but I can help you. You know that."

Candy looked back at Torch and smirked, "I didn't expect anything else from you," she said, a slight hint of pride in her voice. She got up, leaving Torch to quickly follow her. She turned around to look at Burning Light, "Burning Light, you're in charge of watching over the house, if something does south, you'll know, we have the signals," she drilled, Burning Light nodded in response. "You also tell Blue Torch to keep a watch out, from there, just act like we're out the house."

Torch looked behind her, gulping a tiny bit as the two mares walked outside. "Something on your mind?" the smaller one asked, looking up at Torch with a cold stare, "You could always head back if you want, I'm not stopping you," she said, starting the trek up the mountain.

Torch shook her head, "No, I hope you aren't doubting me, I'd imagine _you_ would be the last pony to doubt my abilities," she said, shaking some snow off a paw. "I'm just feeling like something bad is going to happen," she admitted, looking down at Candy.

Candy shook her head, "No, I'm not doubting you, I'm worried that you'll die."

"So you are doubting me."

Candy looked at Torch in shock, garnering a sly, evil chuckle from her, "You forget that after so many years of being with you, your body isn't the only thing I know how to twist properly." She kicked the snow beneath her, sending it flying into Candys fur coat.

Candy let out a shriek, Torch giggling at her squeal. "No! This is going to get ruined! You're a monster!" she squeaked, burying herself into Torchs body, giggling along with her. It was strange, one second Candy was ready to slaughter the next town she had seen, but the next, she was acting all sappy and cute with Torch.

She had always known this, and used it to calm Candy down, if she was feeling down, Torch made sure to lift up her spirits by doing anything. Sitting down to talk, giving her a small gift, even a kiss if she had too, it was all for Candy.

They kept on trekking upwards the mountain, the storm making their eyes squint, they stayed right next to each other, not only for the feeling of them next to each other safe, but to make sure that no one got lost.

They trekked on, keeping each other warm, until they arrived at the cottage, completely missing the detached leg, and the breakfast that stained the snow next to it. "So, this is it," Candy said, looking at Torch. "In all honesty, I expected it to be ea-"

"Candy!"

A tentacle had wrapped around Candys waist, dragging her backwards. Torch ran after Candy, trying to catch up, grabbing her hunting gear, but ripping it off. With a horrified look in her eyes, she was thrown away, disappearing over the mountain range.


	4. Burning Light

Burning Light was not having a fun time sitting down at home. Sure, he could be busy finishing the rough draft for his book, he _was_ behind on schedule already, but he hadn't gotten any clue on where to continue, he was having the worst case of writer's block since his _first book._ Now, he had a book that was close to being published, but he had no real reason to work on that either, besides, what good would it do if he just sent it through without double checking it? None.

With a groan, he picked himself up and walked outside, breathing in the air that it could offer him. Blue Torch was still circling around the house, waiting for their parents to return. "Hey, Blue Torch, you mind coming down here for a second?" he asked the pegasus, who responded by a wing signal, which was not clear at first, but once Burning Light could see it properly, he could've just immediately threw the biggest rock he could find up at the wing. "Oh what, you're acting up now? Why are you even acting up, you literally have no real reason to!"

Blue Torch let out a laugh, "Because, it's fun to watch you complain about me being so moody since I don't have any reason to, it's the best part of my day," he said, lightly landing in front of Burning Light. "So, what were you going to tell me?"

Burning Light sighed, "Well, I was thinking we actually go out and talk to other ponies, be social, y'know?" Blue Torch looked at him for a few seconds "Well, I mean, we also have teaching, ut that isn't for a couple more days. So, how about it?" he asked, Blue Torch still looking at him.

"Well, why wouldn't we do our jobs? Itś the only way we can get bits," Blue Torch finally replied, twitching his wings a little bit.

Burning Light sighed, "Y'know I also bring in more bits, right?" He started to make his way to the closest town, a small little place that was named Hope.

"Wait up for me!" Blue Torch called after Burning Light, hovering his way behind him, gazing ahead.

* * *

Hope was a town comprised of ponies who have fallen from their ways, old ponies, young, anyone was welcome. If they were disgraced or needed a place to hide away, Hope was the town to go. Now of course, because a lot of ponies came down to Hope, it was obvious that relatives or ponies that loved anypony who swung by would viciously attack and harass the town for being, 'a bunch of criminals' or, 'the true villains of Equestria.' Nevertheless, ponies still came, and the town grew.

So it was no surprise that when they opened a small market, it bloomed into a town that _everypony_ went, rejects or not. Which was why it was also no surprise that the town closed its borders and the town itself, only opening up for the special ponies who needed to visit, Celestia, Luna, and some of the higher ups who wanted refuge from their fame. Luckily, Burning Light and Blue Torch were residents of said town before they closed the borders, as Burning Light had taken a huge downfall with writing, and Blue Torch just feeling the need to space out in general.

When the two stallions approached the town, they had noticed it had gone through some changes, the walls surrounding the town were reinforced with steel beams, curving around like a snake, one steel beam was placed every two feet of wall height, and spikes protruded from them. _They really are taking every means necessary to make sure the front gate stays open.._ Burning Light thought. "C'mon, Blue Torch, we're going around the front," he told the pegasus.

"But I can just fly over, right?" he asked, starting to hover higher above the ground.

"No, if they're taking their measures this far to isolate themselves, they'll knock you down as soon as a feather peeks over the wall." He ran towards the wall, pressing a hoof against the spikes, feeling it draw blood and cut as he dragged it across.

"And besides, these walls are covered with a magic."

And with that sentence, Burning light heard a click from the other side of the wall, and felt something stab him in the chest. He heard Blue Torch call out his name, faint and weak, and looked down. A small gap in the wall revealed a spear, and an eye in a hole above it. The spears wooden handle lead to the point, which had lodged itself inside the chest of Burning Light. He lifted a hoof and pressed it against the wood, which retracted immediately as he touched it softly.

Pain spread throughout his body like wildfire, his eyes looked the pony who had stabbed him in the eye, his blue eyes meeting his assailants seemingly-golden eyes, maybe his vision wasn't working, but he could almost make out a small hint of green in the eyes.

"What..?" was the only word he could spit out, blood starting to fill his mouth as he fell, the pain spreading everywhere, the blood from his chest stained his coat as he pressed his hoof against it, gasping heavily.

"Get help you dolt!" Burning Light could faintly hear his brother scream, his vision was darkening and he saw his brother hovering over him, not flying, but standing near him, shaking him. "Listen, you're going to live, I can promise you that, you'll live, I swear," Blue Torch said, shaking him more vigorously.

The last thing he could feel was a heavenly aura of magic wrapping around him before the world around him shut down, leaving him an empty hush in the middle of the desert, right outside the town of Hope.

* * *

 _Feelings, he could feel again. Burning Light woke in a mist-like area, surrounded by a purple veil that coated everything. He stepped forward, the ground was sturdy, despite it being filled with air, or mist. Whatever it was, he was surprised he could walk on it, it was buoyant too, he could bounce if he jumped up and landed hard enough. He could no longer feel any pain in his chest, or anywhere, and the blood that stained his black and white coat had left him._

' _What… where am I' he thought, hearing his voice resonate everywhere, yet he could only hear it in his head. 'Where… am I?' he pondered, wandering the mist-filled terrain, taking in the sights it had, pink, and lighter shades of pink. His favourite colour. Oh, and the purple, another favourite colour. Wonderful. He kept walking forward, seeing some shapes way off in the distance. 'Fun, I have to actually run to the light, didn't imagine I would have to work out in order to reach salvation,' he muttered to himself, dashing forward._

 _It was only five minutes when he realized, he hadn't moved a single inch, in fact, he only seemed to be further away than he was before. He took another step, he was further. Step, woosh, back another few Cels. He grumbled, 'Great, now I have to really work out, what is this, a training session with the guards?' he muttered angrily, heeling the flapping of wings behind him._

" _So, you're finally awake?" a voice behind him called, and Burning Light could no longer find himself able to move, stuck in his position. "I imagined that you'd die in a more… sophisticated way." The voice walked closer to him, "And I know for sure that you're being healed, so you aren't just dead yet. But you'll be mine, I can guarantee it." The voice got closer, and jumped over him, leaving Burning Light in a state of fear when he saw the figure._

" _I already have your mother."_

* * *

A small jolt of energy sparked through his body, he rose, feeling a small heavy sensation in his chest, his eyes adjusting to the light that hung over him. He could feel something on his stomach, and he lifted his head. To his shock, he found the spear he had been stabbed with laying on him. He'd expected a pony to be laying on him, not the thing he'd been supposed to be killed by. _Speaking of which, why am I even alive?_

He placed his hoof on his chest, and felt a small cold metal there, a metal. He was too tired to question why he felt like an Iron Stallion ripoff, as he was quickly being washed over with exhaustion. He could remember the figure that had spoken to him when he was in… a dream? He didn't what where he was, but he could remember the eyes, they were glazed over like dirty glass, the coat of the pony was all black and grey, a hood covered the head, and a cloak covered the body, but he could faintly see the coat.

Another thing that made him shiver in fear was the final words the figure told him, ' _I already have your mother.'_ What could that mean? Did something happen on the mountains? He couldn't imagine his parents, especially Candy, just dead. They wouldn't do that, right?

Somehow, this was enough motivation for him that he rolled off the table, resulting in a large, and long, "Agh!" Pain spread through his body for the second time as he got up. He could feel everything, and by that, he could feel _everything._ He felt the blood rushing through his veins, and the electricity from his nerves. _This would make for a wonderful story idea._ Burning Light thought in his head, saving the idea for when he _wasn't_ on the verge of just collapsing.

He slowly got up. _Great start to my day this is, get stabbed by a guard in Hope, be told a spooky line by Death, and I became an Iron Stallion ripoff. Fun._ He could've cursed under his breath all day if it weren't for the pony who just entered the room, Blue Torch.

"What are… What are you doing up? You aren't even close to being healed yet!" he exclaimed, quickly rushing over to Burning Light, taking a look at the metal covering and tore it off, revealing the soft, fleshy innards inside. "Well, I wish I could say this is fine, but it isn't."

 _So I wasn't filled with metal, it's just something to keep me from touching myself from the inside. Ew._

Burning Light opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off by a second pony walking into the room, the leader of Hope, a mare who went by the name of 'Stable.' Burning Light knew the mare, mainly from… _personal_ levels, and he knew she was a force to be reckoned with. He looked at her, and she looked at him. Blue Torch silently stumbled out the room, leaving the two alone. "So, you've gotten yourself into a bad situation," he said sternly, walking over to Burning Lights body,rolling him over with a hoof, resulting him to give out a small groan of pain.

"Y-yeah, I guess I am. Uh, s-sorry for uh, j-just lea-leaving you li-like that," he stuttered, why was he stuttering?

Stable shrugged. "It's fine, all ponies make mistakes, it was just unlucky that you were forced to leave, and it was my mistake for falling in love with you."

 _Oh no, I'm dead now._

 _She's going to kill me, as if I wasn't already dead enough, I'm going to get killed by an ex, wonderful._

Stable lifted up a hoof and smacked him across the face, leafing a large print where she had hit him across his face. Burning Light could almost feel his soul leaving his body as he fell to the ground, gasping for air. "Luckily for you, I'm not all ponies," she said, wiping her hoof on his coat. "I'll be waiting for you in my office, you're lucky the spear didn't get too deep inside, the worst it did was a poke in the lung, but nothing too serious happened," she said, walking off. "I expect to see you in the office in thirty minutes. Fifteen minutes seeing how long you've traveled there." And with that, she left, slamming the iron door shut, leaving Burning Light alone.

For a while, anyways.


End file.
